


don't cost nothing.

by sanctify (orphan_account)



Series: ☆ strong in the real way - marinette week 2020 ☆ [2]
Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Badass Sabine Cheng, Episode: s03 Chat Blanc Spoilers, F/M, Family Feels, Fluff, Gen, Hawkmoth Defeat, Hurt/Comfort, Marinette Week 2020, Miraculous Holder Sabine Cheng, chat blanc rewrite i guess but not really
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-27
Updated: 2020-03-27
Packaged: 2021-03-01 00:18:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,784
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23342314
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/sanctify
Summary: i'd rather just spend time with you.
Relationships: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir & Sabine Cheng, Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Sabine Cheng & Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug
Series: ☆ strong in the real way - marinette week 2020 ☆ [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1677403
Comments: 10
Kudos: 69





	don't cost nothing.

**Author's Note:**

> hi i said i was gonna double update yesterday but i uhhhh had a personal issue to deal with so yeah, woops
> 
> day 2: sabine

“Maman, what are you doing?” Little Marinette asked as she watched Sabine on the… weird machine.

“Oh, this? I’m just sewing up these leftover pieces of fabric to make rags,” Sabine said, feet on the pedal and maneuvering the cloth to sew a circular pattern on the fabric, holding the pieces together.

“That’s so cool,” Marinette said, eyes wide as she watches her Maman continue to work with ease.

“Do you want to try,  _ baobei _ ?”

“Can I?” Marinette asked, excitement evident in her voice.

“Of course. I’ll step on the pedal, all you have to do is make sure the pieces of cloth are all sewn together and that the stitches aren’t far apart. You already know how to sew by hand, you’ll see that this is the same thing, just faster.”

“Okay! I think I can do that!”

Thus began Marinette’s first experience using an old sewing machine.

* * *

“Maman, what are you doing?” Marinette asked when Sabine came upstairs to the living room with a mop and a bucket. “Can I help out?”

“Thank you, my sweet. We’re going to clean up the attic,” Sabine grinned.

“The attic? Why?” Marinette asked, already thinking of the huge room with all the antiques and the dust.

“Your Baba has already taken down all the things up there. We’re thinking of selling some of the antiques, it should help pay the fees for renovation.”

“Renovation? What for?” Were they planning on expanding the boulangerie downstairs?

“For your new room, of course,” Sabine said, winking at her daughter.

“Wait… what?!”

“It’s going to be your room, and it’ll double as your workplace. You’ve been working with a lot more fabric and making more serious pieces. So your father and I have decided that for your eleventh birthday, this will be our gift to you.”

Sabine laughed as her daughter squealed out loud, and caught her daughter as she practically threw herself at Sabine, hugging her tightly, “Thank you, thank you, thank you!!” Marinette yelled.

“You’re welcome, sweethea—ah, ouch, ouch, Marinette that hurts,” Sabine giggled, rubbing a hand down her daughter’s back.

Marinette was humming under her breath the entire time they cleaned the attic up. She already had plans about the color of the walls and the basic layout of her room after cleaning up.

* * *

“M-Maman…? What are you doing…?” A tearful Marinette hiccuped, wiping her eyes with a handkerchief that Adrien had lent her months ago, that she never returned.

Sabine huffed, rapidly tapping on her phone, messaging as many people as she can. No one was going to threaten her daughter. Especially not some…  _ some coward _ who couldn’t even talk to her in person. She messaged Nadja, she messaged Arielle, she messaged Erik, she messaged Jagged Stone and Penny Rolling, she even went and messaged Gina who was all the way in Italy, and her family who were all the way in Hong Kong.

“Sweetheart,” Tom said, placing a hand on Marinette’s shoulder, “Don’t worry about M. Agreste. Your mother and I will handle him.”

“But… I have to…”

“Do you want to break up with Adrien?”

“No! Of course not!” Obviously not. Marinette’s been in love with that boy for a long time now, and he was as enamored with her as she was, probably even more. There was no way some  _ money-hogging asshole _ with  _ his rules and his threats _ was going to break apart something so special when both Marinette and Adrien  _ thrived  _ with their relationship! Sabine hardly ever saw young Adrien smile before. And then when their relationship began, everything changed for him. He was happier, especially whenever he came over, whenever he and Marinette were together.

Why couldn’t Gabriel see that?!

Mark her words, she wasn’t going to allow anything to happen to those two. She cared about them far too much.

Plus, Marinette’s told her of her dream of three kids and a hamster… call her selfish, but Sabine wanted to see Emma, Louis, and Hugo. Her future grandchildren.

“Mon ange, is there any way for you to message Adrien and ask him to secretly come over?”

“I can try,” her daughter said, pulling her phone out.

Good. None of this breaking up nonsense. If Gabriel wants a fight, he’s gonna get one. Cheng style.

You don’t mess with a Cheng lady and live to see another day.

* * *

“Mam—Mme. Cheng! What are you doing here?!” Ladybug yelped, seeing not only her mother but her entire family ( _ Roland and Gina Dupain were together in the same place _ after years, what on Earth?!) in Maître Fu’s shop. She was planning on borrowing the Turtle and the Fox for this battle against  _ Papillon Écarlate _ , and she and Chat Noir needed all the help they could get.

Speaking of her partner, she really didn’t have the time for the shock of seeing her family in the one place she wasn’t expecting them to be in. She needed the Miraculous. Now.

“Ladybug,” Maître Fu said. “Call Chat Noir to come over.”

“Wh-what?!”

“Please. It is a matter that needs to be dealt with swiftness.”

“M-ma… Okay. Okay.” She pulled her bandalore out, calling her partner instead of video-calling. “Chaton, can you come over to Maître Fu’s shop? Yes. Yes, leave the Akumas. I don’t know! I don’t know what he’s planning, but please, just… thank you.”

“He’ll be here in a few minutes.” She says, placing her bandalore back in its place.

“You may detransform if you wish,” Maître Fu says, setting a cup of tea down on a space where he wants her to sit.

“You… what?!”

“Marinette, sweetheart, it’s okay,” Sabine said, nodding at the rest of her family.

“What is going on?!”

“We’ll explain it to you when Chat Noir comes.”

Ladybug nodded, “I’ll detransform once Chat Noir is here.”

She didn’t know what was going on, but she hopes that this meeting would tip the scales in their favor.

_ This _ was the final battle. She could feel it.

* * *

“Mada—Sabine… what are… you don’t have to,” he protested numbly.

“Hush, I want to,” Sabine, currently Huanglong, says, wrapping her arms around Chat Noir, around Adrien. They were on top of the Arc de Triomphe, hours after Gabriel Agreste’s arrest for crimes against the city as the magical terrorist, Le Papillon. 

Ladybug was dealing with the media with her father, who was currently Rivera, transformed with the Tiger.

They were asked to reveal their identities to each other hours ago before they went to battle for the last time. It had been a surprise for Marinette, and then it became even more surprising when Adrien hadn’t reacted the same way she had.

Which had led to an…  _ interesting conversation _ that probably should’ve occurred when they were alone together and not in the presence of Marinette’s other family members. The kiss that reaffirmed their feelings for each other definitely would have been better done if they were alone, because Tom and Sabine had started cheering, and it had been such an embarrassing moment in an otherwise tense situation.

That was hours ago, and it had felt like maybe things were finally looking up because they had help from such trustworthy adults.

But then his father… Gabriel Agreste had been revealed to be the archenemy he’s been trying to defeat all this time… and Nathalie had been revealed to be Mayura… 

“If you need to cry or rant, I’m here for you,” Huanglong whispered into his hair.

It had been a long while since he felt motherly affection.

Chat Noir wept in his girlfriend’s mother’s arms that night.

* * *

“Maman, what are you doing?”

“I’m making blueberry cheesecake.”

“CHEESE!!”

“Plagg, no!”

Sabine chuckled as her future son-in-law and his kwami argued as usual. She opened the can of preserved blueberries, pausing the argument between boy and kwami. Adrien sniffed the air and licked his lips, “Is there anything I can do to help?”

“If you want to? I don’t want to ask you to help out if you’re busy.”

“Of course I do, Maman! I’m happy to help, just tell me what to do,” he said, grabbing an apron and washing his hands.

Sabine grinned. Adrien was slowly getting eased into baking and he was such a good and eager learner.

“Plagg, there’s a tray of day-old cheese danish at the back if you want them,” Sabine offered as she went to grab the cream cheese from the refrigerator.

“You’re a goddess, Sabine.”

* * *

“Maman, am I moving too fast?” Adrien asked, leaning against Sabine, head rested on her shoulder. Her fingers threaded in his hair, combing gently, an action she knew calmed him down, cat tendencies and all that.

“Not at all,” Sabine grinned. “I know you’ve been ready to marry my daughter since you were fifteen, Adrien. Sure, you’re both pretty young at 23, but I know for a fact that you two are made for each other.” She looked up at the night sky, at the twinkling lights, stars maybe, planets perhaps. “With all that you’ve earned from your teen years working, and with Marinette slowly but surely rising to fame, you’ll both never have a problem when it comes to money, plus you have Tom and myself to help you out if anything happens.”

Adrien nodded silently.

“What did your therapist say?”

“Basically the same thing you said,” he admitted. “I really do want to marry her. But I think I need to gather the courage to propose to her first.”

Sabine laughed, “Take all the time you need, Adrien. No one is rushing you.”

* * *

“Maman, I need your expert opinion,” Marinette said seriously. It was only the two of them working. Tom went out with Adrien for a little father-son bonding.

“What is it, sweetheart?”

“I’m going to propose to Adrien.”

Sabine almost dropped the tray she was holding. She pumped a fist gently. “Yes,” she whispered excitedly to herself.

“Okay, and?”

“Do I make a reservation at our favorite restaurant or is it better if I do it under the stars while we’re out patrolling?”

Sabine hummed in thought. “What do you think he’d like more?”

“Knowing him, he’d go with anything. He’s… he told me that as long as he spent time with me he was happy,” Marinette scoffed, but Sabine still saw the blush on her daughter’s cheeks. “I want it to be special… because he’s super special to me.”

Sabine shook her head, smiling. “You’re overthinking this, my dear,” she said. “Go with your heart. Go with what you feel is right. There’s no right or wrong way to propose to the one you love.”

Marinette nodded, taking her mother’s words to heart.

“Maman?”

“Yes?”

“I love you.”

“I love you too, my little baby.”

**Author's Note:**

> twitter: [reflekdoll](http://twitter.com/reflekdoll)


End file.
